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Post by rockymountaineer on Oct 8, 2019 4:34:35 GMT
This is a locomotive I thought long and hard about pre-ordering. But when common sense prevailed, I held off given the many issues surrounding Lionel's BTO products lately. Nonetheless, I noticed an email tonight from a dealer listing Lionel's new Pennsy J1a as a "new arrival". So curiosity got the best of me. I was hoping to find an "early" YouTube video online by an enthusiastic "early buyer", so I resorted to Google where my eyes quickly zoomed in on a search hit: "Did Lionel use the wrong whistle in the new Pennsylvania J1a?" (dated October 1, 2019). I clicked the link... only to be presented with an all-too familiar "Error: This Post Has Been Deleted" message. So now the "alerts" went off in my head -- generating even more curiosity. I successfully managed to clink on a "follow-up thread" created several hours ago on the same forum, and I noticed several disappointing posts talking about Lionel's use of the H10 whistle in the company's new J1a locomotive. Lionel reportedly claims that's not the case, but forum members commenting on the follow-up thread beg to differ -- siting whistles on both locomotives being identical. The original thread is gone, so I have nothing else to go by -- aside from mystery at this point. Does anybody here actually OWN the latest Lionel Pennsy J1a? And if so, would you care to comment? This was a locomotive (2-10-4) that I thought in prior releases had the steam-chest cylinder emissions. So I thought it might be cool to own this version, if Lionel delivered a clean product. However, my preliminary research seems to indicate something might not be entirely on the up-and-up with this release -- particularly from a whistle/Railsounds perspective. I'm also now holding my breath a bit for the release of Lionel's new NYC Hudson J3a, because I (like some forum members here) DID pre-order the Hudson J3a from one of the special-run, limited edition pieces as opposed to the regular catalog offerings. So I'm hoping all will be A-OK with that Hudson steamer, but now one can only wonder. I figure that puppy must be working its way through the Korean factory assembly lines just about now for a December 2019 delivery here in the USA without incident... or so we would hope!!! We shall see.... but in the meanwhile, if anybody has first-hand news to report on the Pennsy J1a, I'd appreciate your insight. Many thanks!!! David
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Post by Deleted on Oct 8, 2019 9:50:46 GMT
Here is my Legacy Texas from 2011. Definitely a different whistle. I just don't get some of the easy stuff getting messed up. When this engine came out (2011 model) it was received very well. Mine is awesome and has some of the best moaning and groaning sounds ever on a locomotive.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 8, 2019 11:23:07 GMT
That's one cool looking and sounding engine Marty. I know of the thread you speak Dave, interesting how Lionel is taking a stand, even if it's the wrong one.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 8, 2019 12:16:09 GMT
That's one cool looking and sounding engine Marty. I know of the thread you speak Dave, interesting how Lionel is taking a stand, even if it's the wrong one. This is one of the best sounding locomotives out of Lionel. When you brake the stress and strain sounds are incredible. Rudy nailed this one.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 8, 2019 13:03:22 GMT
Not only is the whistle incorrect, the steam chest effects are NOT on demand, they are randomized through the logic board. So you can lay on the steam chest on the CAB2 AND NOTHING HAPPENS EXCEPT FOR THE SOUND. In fact, it is a DIFFERENT steam chest sound when it DOES activate (higher pitched). According to Lionel, they had to make some sacrifices for the Bluetooth functionality. Personally, I couldn't give 2 *&^%$ about the Bluetooth. I still have a Berk that the bluetooth is inop and I could care less.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 8, 2019 13:22:59 GMT
David sounds like you made a good decision with your NO.
Now to see if you luck out. Korea might be a saving grace.
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Post by JDaddy on Oct 8, 2019 13:30:26 GMT
David, I'm glad you brought this subject up. I enthusiastically ordered both cab numbers and now I hear the Banshi style whistle on them and I am totally crest fallen. The whistle means everything to me and even though Ryan from Lionel says its correct, it just does not fit this large locomotive. Why couldn't they have both whistles like the S3 Milwaukee had? I am on the fence post if I should purchase them or tell my LHS to send them back to Lionel and keep the older ones I have.
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Post by JDaddy on Oct 8, 2019 13:31:40 GMT
Not only is the whistle incorrect, the steam chest effects are NOT on demand, they are randomized through the logic board. So you can lay on the steam chest on the CAB2 AND NOTHING HAPPENS EXCEPT FOR THE SOUND. In fact, it is a DIFFERENT steam chest sound when it DOES activate (higher pitched). According to Lionel, they had to make some sacrifices for the Bluetooth functionality. Personally, I couldn't give 2 *&^%$ about the Bluetooth. I still have a Berk that the bluetooth is inop and I could care less. Are you serious? How did you find this out?
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Post by Deleted on Oct 8, 2019 14:13:02 GMT
If that is the case, Bluetooth operation should never compromise the Legacy operation of a locomotive IMO.
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Post by rockymountaineer on Oct 8, 2019 14:33:38 GMT
Not only is the whistle incorrect, the steam chest effects are NOT on demand, they are randomized through the logic board. So you can lay on the steam chest on the CAB2 AND NOTHING HAPPENS EXCEPT FOR THE SOUND. In fact, it is a DIFFERENT steam chest sound when it DOES activate (higher pitched). According to Lionel, they had to make some sacrifices for the Bluetooth functionality. Personally, I couldn't give 2 *&^%$ about the Bluetooth. I still have a Berk that the bluetooth is inop and I could care less. That's very disappointing! Hadn't heard about that yet, and this is definitely where an open forum like OGF really delivers value. I agree with your sentiments 1,000%. There really seems to be a trend at Lionel these days that is NOT very endearing. While I don't expect "time to stand still", it seems that too many recent products are being re-issued with surprises/sacrifices lurking. And decisions are being made that don't reflect the values of Lionel's traditional buyers. The whole idea behind the advancements of Legacy and the CAB2 hand-held remote was to give the operator more control over the locomotives "on demand" -- not to completely automate feature-activation (especially in some random fashion) at the risk of taking away the fun-factor of controlling those features with a walk-around remote. It's not only locomotives either -- the recent crop of boxcars/reefers with FreightSounds falls short of prior VisionLine offerings with FreightSounds too. Both the whistle nonsense as well as this botched implementation of the steam-chest emission effect (and Lord knows what else) are deal-breakers for me. This is yet another prime example of the huge disconnect between the excitement Lionel generates twice a year with new catalogs vs. the unpleasant disappointment buyers experience when products delivered months later fall FAR short of buyer expectations. Don't know what else to say, but I gotta believe Lionel dealers are gonna start taking a hit in pre-orders. Even the concept of exclusive special-run, limited-edition road-numbers may not always entice buyers to pre-order if they're weary of the disappointment factor on the back end of the deal. Lionel is walking on very thin ice with this stuff. Let's hope for the best when Lionel delivers the NYC Hudson J3a later this year. At this point, that's the last remaining big-ticket pre-order I made from that catalog.... and I skipped pre-orders altogether from the 2019 Volume 2 catalog. I was tempted to pre-order the Santa Fe Blue Goose steamer, but I figured it's now safer to wait and see what's actually delivered. Enough dealers should have that locomotive anyway. The touch-and-go element about BTO pre-orders is still the small, out-of-the-way road-names that could be made in very small quantities. But I'm not worried about finding a Santa Fe locomotive after-the-fact. Might even snag it during a Holiday Sale weekend next year. David
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Post by Deleted on Oct 8, 2019 14:58:01 GMT
I'm scared to death the Hudsons will have something not right. Either a factory issue or a Lionel issue of cutting corner/compromise. Is it me or are there issue with 80% of whats coming out these days?
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Post by Deleted on Oct 8, 2019 15:11:50 GMT
Tru AUX3 for the Steam chest release. Just a thought as some of these functions have been moved to the AUX3 button.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 8, 2019 15:13:51 GMT
Not only is the whistle incorrect, the steam chest effects are NOT on demand, they are randomized through the logic board. So you can lay on the steam chest on the CAB2 AND NOTHING HAPPENS EXCEPT FOR THE SOUND. In fact, it is a DIFFERENT steam chest sound when it DOES activate (higher pitched). According to Lionel, they had to make some sacrifices for the Bluetooth functionality. Personally, I couldn't give 2 *&^%$ about the Bluetooth. I still have a Berk that the bluetooth is inop and I could care less. Are you serious? How did you find this out? A friend of mine at the club bought one. He brought it to my home layout because he was having some issues right out of the box. We could not get the steam chest to activate on demand. And, when it did activate, it was a higher pitched steam sound. In fact, you can play both steam chest sounds at the same time (if you're quick with the CAB2), and hear the difference. We called Lionel customer service and was advised by a tech that this was indeed the case. The steam chest is random unless you automate a high momentum roll off using the AUX1 hold, and even then it will only do it the first time after startup.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 8, 2019 15:16:27 GMT
Tru AUX3 for the Steam chest release. Just a thought as some of these functions have been moved to the AUX3 button. Tried that Marty. See post above.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 8, 2019 15:30:42 GMT
I just realized that the engine he bought was the Southern #5300, not the NYC J1A. So the whistle issue I cannot confirm for the NYC. Sorry!
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